Last days of school!

Ok! So summer is coming-- I think. It seems like it should be summer but the weather doesn't feel like it. We have all been busy this last week with parties, and games, autographs and goodbyes. It is such a bittersweet time of the year. When you are a child, you cannot wait to just waste the summer away by playing til the sun goes down. Then as a parent, you are excited to not have to wake up and struggle with the ones that aren't morning people, and get breakfast and get them off to school. You don't HAVE to have a schedule. You can play with them. But then you don't have those extra hours of free time to have MOM time and you are subjected to hear MORE of the bickering that you normally hear. (OK so this is how it is for me)
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Well these past few days have been fun. We have been thinking of what to do to tell our teachers that we love them and that we appreciate all that they have done for us. We came up with a couple of things but this is what we did

On Wednesday, Brekyn's class had their "End of the Year" party. We watched a slide show that Mrs. Coffman had put together and then we went outside to play. We played Beach Ball-Base Ball. Only we had a few rules!

#1. When you go to first base, you have to WALK BACKWARDS!


#2. When you go to second base, you have to LEAP FROG!


#3. When you go to third base, you have to CRAB WALK!


#4. When you are going home, you have to HULA HOOP!


#5. When you are in the outfield, you have to use BABY STEPS!


This was SO much fun! It took the kids a minute to get it but they caught on quick!
The we had popcicles and the kids got to sign the beach ball and we gave it to Mrs. Coffman as a souvenier to remember her 07/08 second grade class. Brekyn loved her teacher and she is going to miss her over the summer.

I cannot believe that my baby is graduating from 6th grade and moving into JR HIGH!!!! I feel so OLD! She is really going to miss her teacher, Miss Hone. She is going to miss a lot of people that she won't be seeing next year because they won't all be going to the same school




Then on Thursday, it was time to hand out awards and Sydnie received a couple of awards. One of them was the award for "Achieving the Presidential Academic Award". It is for grades and participation for the last 3 years. She also recieved the "Most Helpful Award" and the "keyboarding Award".


Brekyn recieved and award for "Stellar Storyteller" She is a good story teller and is always making little books. We may have an author on our hands.

~Memory Tuesday~

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU "GREW UP?" DID YOU BECOME THAT?

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an Architect. When I was young and most kids were coloring big pictures of their favorite character, I was drawing house plans. My mom would buy me graph paper and I would go to town. I loved to draw different types of houses and then draw where the furniture would go.
When I was in high school, I took drafting and Cad classes. I did awesome! Then it was off to college to pursue my career. Well life happened and I met Jon. That is where the dream paused. I say paused because I still have all the intentions to go back to school and become what I always wanted to be. Jon says we would make a good team becasue with his building experience and the experience he has spent with the shotty work architects can do, he can give me input!
One day.......

My Hidden Obsessions

I don't know how many of you know this, but I love UFC Fighting. I love to watch a good, fair, decent fight. Well Last night was a good night for a fight. I have my faves and my NOT so faves. Well it just happened that one of each was fighting last night. I was so excited. So we ordered the fights and invited a few friends to come over to watch. It is starting to become a ritual at our house now. Jon says,"we are gonna order them regardless, so why not share it with you r buddies?"
Everyone brought yummies. And I don;t mean your average yummies. We had Buffalo wing dip, Artichoke dip, Shrimp, Jalapeno Poppers, little weenies, and tonz more. We did not go hungry.
So here is how our night went,

BJ went on to be Sean Sherk! (great fight BTW!!)


TITO loses to Machida!(he's the one on the ground) Yeah! He is not one of my faves. He says this is his last fight and that he is going to retire a while-- Maybe?? Maybe Not??


Then there was this fight! Wow! Silva vs. Jardine.
Both of these guys are good fighters. I like both of them. Well the fight only last 36 seconds. It was CRAZY!!
Silva (black hat) took Jardine (no hat) down and I was waiting to see little birdies start flying in circles above his head. I don't even think they got a picture of it because the fight was so short!

Later, after the hoopla was over and it was just the after fights, the girls took off and did a little dancin! One of my other obsessions. I love to dance because it is such a good workout! We go to dance, not for anything else. We even have a system for those UNWANTED visitors! It is like a LOSER REPELLENT! I don't know how some guys can have the nerve (or something else) to come into a group of girls and start dancing with them. I mean "HELLO! WERE YOU INVITED HERE?" We thought that the club would be a little empty due to the holiday weekend, but I don't think a lot of people got the memo, so the place was PACKED! I ran into one of my old friends from high school named Jason Allguire. We sat and talked about old times and who we've seen, and who's stripping in Vegas and is married to a nasty guy (JAYNE). It is always fun to hear that people who made your life h*ll in school didn't turn out to great. KARMA's a b**ch!



It was a fun night with my girls. After we left, we had to earn back all of those calories that we had just burned off and we stoped at Sconecutter. This is sort of a ritual for us now. They have YUMMY fries and ranch.
I just want to tell my "girlies" that I love em. Thanks for a fun night!
(oh the best part of the night is I came home to a clean house!!!) Thanks Sweety! xoxoxo

Happy Birthday Mrs. Coffman!

I just wanted to wish Brekyn's teacher, Mrs. Coffman, Happy Birthday! She is such a wonderful teacher and such a sweet friend. Brekyn has really loved being in her class and I have loved being her room mom.
We are going to miss you this summer but we will keep in touch through blogs!!
We hope you have a good day!

PS. I hope you enjoy your "feet stuff" Brekyn told me, "Mom, Mrs Coffmans birthday is this Saturday and I want to get something for her feet cause they always hurt" I asked her "How do you know that??" Then she replied "cause she always takes her shoes off" Like DUH MOM! So I hope you can sit down, get off your feet, and relax a bit!

(Prayers)

I just heard some bad news from one of my friends and I want her to know how much she is loved and that she is in my prayers. I don't understand why bad things have to happen to good people. It's not fair-- Those are three words that we are not allowed to use in our house but they speak so much truth. "It's Not Fair!"
I just want my friend to know that we are here for her when she needs a shoulder to cry on or someone to yell at because she needs to vent.
We love you and your family and you are in our prayers.

~Memory Tuesday~

Write about the time when you first found out you were going to have a baby...


Wow! I am not sure that I can remember all the details since it has been over 12 years ago. I do remember that we were living in our first apartment and trying to get through all of the newlywed blunders (lid on the toothpaste, etc..) I do remember that we had only been married for about 2 months when I started feeling funny. I was so b**tchy all the time and couldn't figure out why. I knew that I was on birth control. I had started it before we got married so it would have been kicked in. But I had gotten very sick before the wedding so my Grandma gave me some Penicillin to take so I would get better quicker. I wanted to be able to enjoy my wedding and especially our honeymoon. I was a little on the messed up side in the woman dept. for a while so I took a test just to see what it said. WALLAH!! There was that little pink line. What was I going to do. I was only 19 years old and had just got married. I was a little scared to tell Jon, but when I did, he was excited about it. The one thing that I remember so clearly was when I told my mom.
We went over to her house and she was outside and I said "Mom, were having a baby." I was a little scared for the reaction, but not prepared for the one I got. She was furious. She yelled at me and then said "I'M TOO YOUNG TO BE A GRANDMA!" We decided to leave till things cooled down, and of course they did. Then she was ecstatic about the whole thing. Then when we found out it was a girl, we went and bought a pink carnation and took it to her at work. She screamed and started crying.
Then our little Sydnie was born.

Congrats to Mr and Mrs Goulding

I was honored to be a part of the wedding for Kelly and Boden this last weekend. It turned out awesome. Our family is so lucky to be getting a guy like Boden. He is such a sweetheart and I know he is going to take good care of our Kelly. He wrote her a poem and I could not hold back the tears! They are both lucky to have found each other so soon in life. It gives them longer to be together. We all had so much fun dancing and hanging out and the food was delish! They had a choco fountain and all the goodies to dip in it--the marshmellows were the best (well and the bananas too) It was fun to see Kelly getting married and remembering that she was MY flower girl at my wedding almost 13 years ago. It did make me feel old though.
I just want to tell them both that we love them very much and Boden....I am glad that you are in our family now. We may be a little kooky, but we sure do have a lot of love to give. 333's to you two!

Happy Birthday Sydnie!

Blow out your candles!



Sydnie and Brekyn playing Dance Dance! They were good!

This is a sad day for me! My baby girl just turned 12 today. That means we are getting older. I cannot believe how big she is getting. I am so proud of the girl that she is growing up to be. She is so smart and creative! We are so lucky to have her in our family!
Our friends Dave and Amy and their boys came down from Heber, and Jeff and Tara and Starli and we all took Sydnie up to the District to lunch at Red Robin and then to see Narnia. It was a good movie. Later that night, Grandma and Grandpa Holland, and Papa and N ana came over and we all had cake and ice cream (well they were togetheralready). Sydnie got to open her presents from everybody. She got some nice gifts. She is going to have asleep over with the girls in a couple of weeks when the summer comes. All in all it was a good day.
Happy Birthday Cee Cee!!

ATTENTION TWILIGHT FANS!!!

I just found this little teaser clip about "Twilight" the movie coming out in December-- I am so excited! I want to get a big group and go see it! Who's in?????
It is amazing how they can portray the characters exactly how they looked in my mind! WOW!

(push pause on my music player to hear the sound)

~Memory Tuesday~

ARE YOU AN OUTGOING PERSON OR MORE RESERVED? EXPLAIN

Wow this is a hard one for me. I'm a little of both. I can be very reserved to certain people or very outgoing and obnoxious to others. I love to be around people that I can be outgoing with and goof around. I think I am a big goof. I do have a problem exercising my opinion all too well and sometimes that gets me into trouble. My mom bought me a magnet for Moms day that said "I'm not bossy I just have better ideas!" Wow did she nail it. I can really come across this way-- Sorry to those of you that I have been this way to:) I don't mean to be- Something I am working on.
I am very shy to a point. I wish I could be the kind of person that can be outgoing to strangers. I would probably meet more people that way.

Our quick weekend trip!

Our family recently took a quick trip. And I mean quick trip to Farmington, New Mexico to see my cousin Hayden graduate from San Juan College. We are so proud of her. She is the first College Grad in our WHOLE Family. On our way down, we stopped at Arches National Park. We did the short hike up to the windows and Turret Arch. It was really cool. Brekyn liked the rocks that were shaped like an elephant.
Later that day, after long 7 hour drive, we arrived in Farmington. We checked into our hotel and went out to eat. We had a long day on Saturday so we went back early and went to bed.
The next morning was the Graduation. It was such an honor being there to see Hayden receive her diploma in nursing. Later that afternoon, Hayden's friends and family threw her a baby shower. She got so many cute things. The best (I think) was the nursing scrubs for baby that you can write the baby's info on. It is so appropriate for her!
After the shower we all went back to our hotel to do a little swimming before dinner. It was nice for Jon to be able to sit in a hot tub. This trip really did a number on his back. Sitting in a car for so long, then during a graduation, then.... he slipped while getting out of the hot tub, then having to drive home. He has been hurting.
Later that night we all met at Golden Corral for dinner then it was off to the Pruitts to celebrate 3 birthdays. Westons was that Saturday. He turned 17 years old. I can't believe it! Then Boden (Kelly's Fiancee') and Tukars were both on Monday do we had some Cake for them. Then it was off to bed again for another long day.
On our way home, we decided since we were down this way, that we would take the kids to the Four Corners. Neither Jon nor I had been there either. Well there wasn't much to look at but the kids thought it was really cool that they could stand in 4 states at the same time. Since it was Moms day, we did stop in Moab at this yummy Italian restaurant and had dinner and watched the Jazz play.. (good game). This was really a fun trip but it was very short. I am just glad we could do it. I also have a new threat for my kids that might just work. I told them if they keep being boogers to each other, we are shipping them to the Reservation. They were very shocked and humbled at the way some people live. It was definitely an eye opener.


Our Family at the North Window at the Arches




My Sweet Cousin Hayden at her Graduation. Congrats Sweety!






Happy Birthday Boys!


Four Corners. Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.


Mothers day dinner


The Rez!

Happy Birthday!

I want to wish a special Happy Birthday to my best boy Tukar who is 2 today, and Boden, and Weston. I also want to wish my Mother in law Happy Birthday too. Today sure is a popular day for birthdays!

So Sleepy

I had to share this because it was too funny! Sweet tired little Tukar eating a creamy could not keep his eyes open. His head kept bobbin up and down, up and down. But he still managed to keep licking his creamy. That is dedication for ya! We finally helped him out after a few minutes laughing at his expense and took his creamy from him and laid him down.

Memory Tuesday

TELL ABOUT LEARNING HOW TO DRIVE

I don't remember really learning how to drive. I kinda just knew. I do remember when I was about 14 and I loved in Nashville (you could get a liscence then) and my friend Joe would let me drive his Baretta around when we hung out. That's about it. I also remeber learning how to drive a stick from my mom when she bought me my first car "BLUE THUNDER!" It was a blue Geo Spectrum that I got right before I graduated. We ALL had some good times in that car!!

I READ A BOOK!!

So if you know me at all you know that I am NOT a reader. I was diagnosed my senior year with a form of dyslexia (I know good timing right??) So I just DON'T read books. It takes me way to long and I don't have a good grasp on patience at this stage in my life. I did get tricked into reading a book a few years back right before the first "Harry Potter" movie came out. My mom has always bugged me to read the book and I guess she knew me well enough that she just came and read the book to me as I cleaned my house. I became so intrigued that I stopped and listened. It was amazing. I had to know how it finished so after she read me a few chapters, I finished it. It took me about 2 weeks to do it though. I read slow. So then I had to have more. It was like a drug, I read all of them. I loved them. I didn't know how I could ever read anything else that was comparable. That was until I gave into the pressure again. When I was at my retreat, some of the girls were talking about these books and how great they were. The name of the books are "Twilight", "New Moon" and "Eclipse". They were written my a girl from BYU. I guess they are geared towards teens. I wasn't too interested at first, but they just kept on about them. It sparked my interest. Then after hearing from a few more people about how "great" these books were, I gave in. I was wandering around Target and I saw the very books that everyone had been ranting about. So I bought it. I really didn't think that it would make it out of the bag. I thought it would just be something else I would have to dust. Then a couple of night later I couldn't sleep and the TV had nothing on it so I pulled it out of the bag and decided to give it a try. It was hard to get my brain to work on the first couple of pages. Like I said, I DON'T read. So my brain was in shock. Then the story started to form in my head and I could see the faces of Bella and Edward so clearly. I was just like I had done with the Harry Potter books.
After we had left for camping, I realized that I had forgetten the book and my sweet Hubby drove back home to get it. I was mesmorized. Every spare moment I had was dedicated to finding out what was going to happen next! Then it was done. One of the shortest times it has ever taken me to finish a book. I neglected my house and kids for a couple of days, but wow it was worth it. Now I can't wait to read the next one and the next one then to see the movie in December!!! AAAHHHH! It's like a new drug. I am addicted!

Camping in who knows where???

I got a call on Thursday from Jon asking if we were going to go camping. I said "I don't know" then he replied very sternly "do you not want to ride your new wheeler?" I was shocked. He had done it. He bought us a wheeler. So we shopped, packed and headed south! We met up with Angie and Jason and followed them out to the desert. I couldn't tell you where we were. Somewhere by a little town called Elberta. There we set up our camp and waited for the herd to come in. We brought our dogs with us and so did they. That was a little traumatic. Her name was Ruby and she is about the size of a snack for my dogs. I was a little scared how the boys would react to her. They were excited at first then got used to her. Then it was Tukars turn. He freaked out. He does great with large dogs, it is the little kick me ones that he freaks out about. Every time the dog would come near him, he would scream and run in the trailer.
The next day Craig and Tonie and their girls Katlyn and McKinkey came up. They are some friends of Jason and Angie's. They were so sweet and Syd and Katlyn instantly clicked. It was good for her. Then more and more people started arriving including Dave and Amy in their "NEW RIDE!" They got a new trailer and it has a "real toilet". If any of you know Amy, she hates to camp because they had a tent trailer with out a toilet. So this is a good thing.
By the end of the night we ended up with about 7 couples, their kids, and their dogs, and their wheelers. Wow what a crowd. The herd had definitely arrived.
The next day we went out and did some riding with everyone. It was so fun. Craig new of some cool places to take us including an old train tunnel and an old abandoned mine shaft. It was cool because when you looked down, you couldn't see the bottom. We all took our turns throwing things down to see if we could hear them hit, then someone came up with the brilliant idea to send down a burning bottle full of gas to see if we could see the bottom. Well after siphoning gas out of a wheeler, we lit it and dropped it. No luck. It burned out before it hit the bottom. Oh well. Back to camp.
The next day we did a bit more riding and we took Tukar with us this time. He fell right asleep. Maybe from the rev of the engine or the rocking back and forth on the rocks. Any way it was a good nap for him.

A few things that happened on this trip:
* My son overcame his fear of little dogs, well Ruby at least
* We learned to ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET after my nephew crashed on his wheeler
* I introduced a lot of people to the concept of cooking bickits over the fire
* We made new friends
* I SHOT A HANDGUN!!!! and did a dang good job at it
* We got a new wheeler and I learned how to drive it (it's not an automatic)
* We learned you can get sunburned from the clouds.

All in all we had a blast and I can't wait to do it again!!